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  <section id="about-pytch">
<h1>About Pytch<a class="headerlink" href="#about-pytch" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h1>
<p>Pytch provides a bridge in the journey from Scratch to Python.</p>
<section id="motivation">
<h2>Motivation<a class="headerlink" href="#motivation" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>The two most common teaching languages are Scratch and Python. Learners
often start by working with Scratch, and then at some point want to make
a transition to a text-based programming language; Python is a common
choice.</p>
<p>Many factors make the transition from Scratch to Python a difficult one.
Simplifying, we can see that there are two substantial differences:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>Instead of assembling their program via drag and drop of interlocking
blocks, the learner must type code into a text editor, attending to
spelling, syntax, and so on.</p></li>
<li><p>Instead of an environment providing a set of concurrently running
sprites, with built-in behaviours such as movement, costumes, and
collision detection, the learner must work with an entirely new
runtime, with a very different programming model.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Currently, the learner must make both these changes to their
understanding at the same time.</p>
</section>
<section id="pytchs-contribution">
<h2>Pytch’s contribution<a class="headerlink" href="#pytchs-contribution" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>We break this leap into two smaller steps. Pytch provides a programming
environment with the familiarity of Scratch’s model and runtime, but
where behaviour is expressed using textual Python code rather than
blocks. Pytch projects resemble Scratch projects, with a Stage and as
many interacting Sprites as required. The learner can concentrate on
becoming familiar with Python’s syntax.</p>
</section>
<section id="status">
<h2>Status<a class="headerlink" href="#status" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>The implementation is at the prototype stage. We would very much welcome
feedback from people with experience of both Scratch and Python,
particularly those involved in education!</p>
</section>
<section id="acknowledgements">
<h2>Acknowledgements<a class="headerlink" href="#acknowledgements" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>We rely heavily on the following two excellent projects:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><a class="reference external" href="https://scratch.mit.edu/">Scratch</a> — MIT’s graphical programming
environment, whose ideas are the motivation behind Pytch</p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference external" href="https://skulpt.org/">Skulpt</a> — an in-browser implementation of
the Python language, on which we have built Pytch</p></li>
</ul>
</section>
<section id="licence">
<h2>Licence<a class="headerlink" href="#licence" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>See separate page:</p>
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<ul>
<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="licensing.html">Copyright and licence</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</section>
<section id="email">
<h2>Email<a class="headerlink" href="#email" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><a class="reference external" href="mailto:info&#37;&#52;&#48;pytch&#46;org"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">info&#64;pytch.org</span></code></a></p></li>
</ul>
</section>
<section id="author-information">
<h2>Author information<a class="headerlink" href="#author-information" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>Ben North: <a class="reference external" href="mailto:ben&#37;&#52;&#48;redfrontdoor&#46;org">email</a> /
<a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/bennorth/">GitHub</a> /
<a class="reference external" href="https://redfrontdoor.org/blog/">blog</a></p></li>
<li><p>Glenn Strong: <a class="reference external" href="mailto:Glenn&#46;Strong&#37;&#52;&#48;scss&#46;tcd&#46;ie">email</a> /
<a class="reference external" href="https://www.scss.tcd.ie/Glenn.Strong/">web</a></p></li>
</ul>
</section>
</section>


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